An extension of the Common Sense Journalism monthly column by Doug Fisher, former broadcaster, newspaper reporter and wire service editor. From new media to old, much of journalism is just plain common sense."In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock." - Unknown (often improperly attributed to Thomas Jefferson)
"It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it." - Upton Sinclair
"Common sense is not so common" - Voltaire
"Common sense is instinct; enough of it is genius" - George Bernard Shaw

Sunday, August 03, 2008

Overquoting

Continuing our theme this morning of excessive verbiage, let's turn next to the shibboleth that we absolutely must have a quote to back up the lede.

'Tain't so. And too often it appears in police and sports stories where the quotes often are insipid anyhow. Case in point from today:

Spartanburg police said Saturday night that a homicide victim was not the intended target of a Friday shooting.

Spartanburg Public Safety Department Lt. Ron Cantrell said Arthur Lee Webb, 20, was caught in the wrong place when multiple shots were fired.

"We don't feel like the gentleman that was shot was the intended victim," said Cantrell, adding that a motive still was not clear.

Webb was shot about 8 p.m. Friday at Bradford Grove apartments, 2096 E. Main St., and died at the scene.

If you do this, is there any loss of meaning, understanding or authority for the lede:

Spartanburg police said Saturday night that a homicide victim was not the intended target of a Friday shooting.

Public Safety Department Lt. Ron Cantrell said Arthur Lee Webb, 20, was caught in the wrong place when someone fired several shots. A motive remained unclear, Cantrell said.

Webb was shot about 8 p.m. Friday at Bradford Grove apartments, 2096 E. Main St., and died at the scene.

[I also like "when someone fired several shots" instead of the passive and cop-speak "when multiple shots were fired" -- it's ulikely the shots fired off by themselves accidentally or that an animal did it; we can fairly safely say someone had to pull a trigger. But you may disagree out of an abundance of caution. I even find the "remained unclear" that I used to tighten to be a but cop-speak. Perhaps just "was not clear" or "was unclear." The "still" or "remained" has a bit of impatience to it.]

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Who am I: A longtime print and broadcast reporter/editor/producer and then AP news editor who now professes journalism at the University of South Carolina. (But please note, nothing on this blog represents official university policy or sentiment. If it did, I'd be very concerned.)My point: That journalism is a great occupation, that most journalism is common sense and that our problems arise when we sometimes don't use it.What's covered: My interests center on editing and writing and on editors and the challenges they face in a changing environment. I'm convinced editors are not being trained enough to face these challenges, but that common sense rules the day. I'm heavily involved in Newsplex, the new-media newsroom at the University of South Carolina. But my interests are wide-ranging, so anything, from ethics to some aspects of Web design, is fair game.
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